About The Feast of the Seven Fishes
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A Christmas Eve Tradition for Many Italian-Americans
In either case, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is typically a long, multi-course dinner enjoyed on Christmas Eve involving no meat, but seven different kinds of seafood. Many families enjoy specific recipes passed down from generation to generation; others today choose to celebrate at one of the many Italian restaurants now specializing in modern or traditional feasts. In either case, it is a wonderful holiday tradition that brings families together, large and small, to enjoy delicious Italian seafood specialties and reflect on the events of the previous year.
This page is a brief introduction to the Feast of the Seven Fishes, with links and resources included so that you can learn more about it - or perhaps to serve a 7 Fishes Feast yourself this year!
Photo credit: jesus-is-lord at morguefile
Table of Contents
What you'll find on this page about the Feast of the 7 Fishes
Have You Heard of the Feast of the Seven Fishes Before?
Question For Those Who Do Celebrate the Feast
About the Feast of the Seven Fishes
Basic Facts and History
The Feast of the Seven Fishes - known in Italian as "festa dei sette pesci" - is a tradition celebrated on Christmas Eve. It is also referred to as The Vigil or "La Vigilia" but is not a known tradition in many parts of Italy today despite its origins being claimed as Southern Italy. It is a celebration of the wait for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus, and is typically marked by an elaborate meal consisting of seven different seafood dishes. It can also consist of a lesser number of dishes as long as 7 different fish are used throughout - for instance in a fish soup or mixed seafood pasta.The importance of the number 7 in the Feast is that it is believed to relate to the number of Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as being a biblical number of perfection. Other families, however, celebrate with 9, 11 or 13 seafood dishes or fishes, marking other numbers of biblical significance. However 7 is the most popular and well-known number.
One theory supposes that the Feast actually originated with the first Italian immigrants to America. While it has long been Italian tradition to dine Christmas Eve with a meat-free meal, immigrants wanted to celebrate the bounty and prosperity of the New World with a more elaborate dinner showcasing the seafood bounty they could now afford and enjoy. Hence, a simple meal of salt cod or other inexpensive fish became a multicourse meals affair showcasing a variety of seafood: clams, octopus, flounder, shrimp, lobster, crab and more. A mixed seafood salad, fried smelts, stuffed calamari, pasta with shellfish, marinated eel...these are just some of the dishes popular traditionally for the Feast.
Photo: Baccala (salt cold), a traditional component of most 7 Fish dinners. Photo by sockii.
Mario Batali Talks About The Feast of the Seven Fishes
A Brief Video from the Popular Celebrity Chef
What Is Your Favorite Dish from The Feast?
If your family celebrates the Feast of the Seven Fishes, do you have a favorite dish or course which must be included? I'm sure most of us do!
Recipe Ideas for the Feast of the Seven Fishes
Italian Seafood Cookbooks From Amazon
Books About The Feast of the 7 Fishes and Italian Holiday Traditions
Learn More from these Titles on Amazon
More Information on the Feast of the 7 Fishes
Articles on the Internet about This Tradition
- Feast of the Seven Fishes - Wikipedia
- Wikipedia page on this tradition.
- Preparing a Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes Dinner at Home
- Ideas for a Multi-Course Seafood Menu Celebrating This Italian-American Tradition.
- Restaurants Serving a Feast of the Seven Fishes Dinner on Christmas Eve in Gloucester County, New Jersey
- Where to Enjoy This Traditional Italian-American Holiday Feast in Southern New Jersey.
- Feast of the Seven Fishes Menus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Where to Enjoy This Traditional Italian-American Holiday Feast in and Around Philly
- Feast of the Seven Fishes - Recipes
- Allrecipes.com page on the celebration, with many traditional recipes for you to try and enjoy.
- Mario Batali's Christmas Eve Feast
- Iron Chef Mario Batali talks about preparing this traditional meal at home.
- Feast of the Seven Fishes Recipes - Eating Well
- Healthy and nutritious recipes for cooking a seafood feast at home.
- Lidia Bastianich's Secrets to the Feast of the Seven Fishes
- Celebrated Italian chef Lidia shares her secrets and tips to preparing the Feast at home.
- Sicilian Culture: Christmas Eve Dinner
- Includes menu suggestions and recipes.
- Rachel Ray's Feast of the Seven Fishes
- Suggested recipes from the celebrity chef.
News Headlines about The Feast of the Seven Fishes
Google News on This Italian Christmas Eve Tradition
- Main Street Fairmont Executive Director Steps Down After 8 Years
- Sansalone has played a huge role in Fairmont's downtown redevelopment whether it's organizing events like the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or applying for grant money. Main Street Fairmont now is looking for a new executive director.
- Cucina italiana, gli errori più comuni
- In America esiste poi un piatto chiamato ?Feast of the Seven Fishes?, ovvero il ?banchetto dei sette pesci?, che viene servito la vigilia di Natale. Bene, questa specialità marina viene considerata una tradizione tipica delle vacanze natalizie italiane ...
Feast of the Seven Fishes: Related Items on eBay
What Do You Think About the Feast of the Seven Fishes?
I hope you enjoyed this article about this unique Christmas tradition. If your family celebrates the feast, what dishes are your favorites from the menu? Do you eat out or prepare the meal at home?
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---Chazz
Mar 4, 2012 @ 11:47 am | delete
- Takes me back to when we were first married and had 45+ people over for this feast every Christmas eve, many of whom are no longer with us. Your lens brought back many warm memories of the previous generation. Blessed and featured on "Wing-ing it on Squidoo," my tribute to the best lenses I've found since donning my wings. I am also adding a link to this on my Calamari Salad lens that mentions the feast. Thank you!
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sockii
Mar 4, 2012 @ 12:44 pm | delete
- Thanks very much! I'm going to definitely check out your Calamari Salad lens as I loooooove calamari and am always looking for new ways to prepare it. My partner's family usually has between 30-45 people every year for the Feast, and we're thinking of bringing it to our home in the future as sadly some of the older generations are no longer with us. For a few years the family has been so big they had to move it to a restaurant, but I think it's much better when prepared at home. It's a wonderful tradition worth keeping going.
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nyclittleitaly
Feb 15, 2012 @ 4:02 pm | delete
- Fantastic lens. Thank you.
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Tipi
Jan 1, 2012 @ 11:11 am | delete
- OMG, my mouth is watering like crazy, and I'm starving all of a sudden. Thank you for all the info, I we have never celebrated the Feast of 7 Fishes, but its a great tradition.
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poddys
Dec 9, 2011 @ 3:39 pm | delete
- This is one side of Italian cooking that I never really experienced. I had Baccala a couple of times, but I'm not really keen on shellfish. Great lens, it's good to learn about other national traditions, blessed.
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About the Author
by sockii
I'm a self-proclaimed Jane of All Trades who has written for numerous sites on-line including the Yahoo!Contributor Network, Demand Studios and Suite101.... more »
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